- Just for fun I tried some different props today to see if I could get the model to "spin up" better after hovering. I got hold of a Menz wood propeller 20x10 and had APC 20x8E and 20x10E. It was clear that the Menz was not as effective either in top speed or vertical and it did not help during hovering. Second vertical shows that it does not carry me forever.. but the APC's does. But it was not a bad prop either. Log HERE of takeoff vertical and a vertical with speed. Geir Atle tried to move some snow outside the field today but there is two layers of ice... So he had to get the tractor!
DAY ..
26.February 2006
- Windy again the most of the day but it was ok early and
late in the day. I flew 2 flights with the Katana 2M (log1,
log2) and it was good practice
in windy conditions. The model deals with wind pretty well. So I am
in good shape for
Fagernes
Airshow in a couple of weeks. A couple of the other guys also
flew and Kjell Arne had a cool fan model that actually flies very
well.
DAY ..
25.February 2006
- Windy today! But I got some flights with the Katana 2M. A
big model is not that effected by wind as small ones. They wiggle a
bit but stay mostly on track. Logged two of the flights with the
logger from
Hexpertsystems since I got a new firmware in it. Actually seems
to work better now and with adjustable download speed to the pc it
now comes in with no glitches. Cool logger and software is easy to
work with. Log1 -
log2. The logs show that
vertical speed is no problem. I still would like a bit more power
out of hover.
Got a few nice photos in front of a Morgan also since I was taking
photos of it. Richard took the one of me.
Yesterday me and Otto flew a bit indoor as you see of the picture.
Me with Mini 3DX and Otto with a heli.
DAY ..
24.February 2006
- Tensioned up hard the repaired green Superior today and
gave it a hard toss on the winch. Managed to stall the winch almost
and had a hard zoom. The repaired model is strong enough ;-) Had 2
flights with it and also 3 flights with my Katana 2M. Richard
Blindheim also visited and flew some flights with a "plastic model"
Carousel. He will be back tomorrow and flying his big Beaver also I
guess. Arild flew a flight with his Patty Wagstaff equipped with
DA50. Incredible how much power he have! Nice Halo today also. More
pictures from today
HERE
DAY ..
23.February 2006
- Incredible weather out now so I have to use while I can.
My "old" green Superior has come to life again after I crashed it
straight down in 100km/h last year (with electric fuse). The wing
needed 2 bottles of thin CA before it now is flyable again. Drilled
a lot of holes (+100) in the whole leading edge and it can now serve
as a backup model. I dont know yet if I want to make it nice and
shiny since it is a competition model anyhow. Nice to see that it
flew well. I started on rubber today so I still need some winch
starts to see if it is strong enough. A flight with the Katana 2M
finished off the day
DAY ..
22.February 2006
- Cloudy but me and my son was bored so we flew his tiny
freeflyer and I crashed my Mini Katana. So we ended up with bowling
and pizza instead. My son got 2 strikes though with siderails... Jim
from USA called and we had a nice chat.
DAY ..
21.February 2006
- Wonderful weather so the Katana 2M came out again on the
ice. Geir Atle was also there and flew a bit.
DAY ..
20.February 2006
- We are closing in on
Fagernes
Airshow 2006 so I need some practice on my Katana 2M from
www.RC-Flight.com. Nice
weather and fair enough temperatures outside to have a nice practice
flight. Really need a bit bigger prop but all I have found have to
big pitch or is too heavy. Anyone have 22x8 electric or something? I
use 20x10 (and 20x8) today.
DAY ..
19.February 2006
- Either it is too cold or it is snowing heavy. I have flown
a tiny bit of small planes but that is all. So yeasterday was first
day of
X5J extreme February on RC-groups but it was snowing heavy. I
could have flown but decided to wait a day for better conditions.
Today I had -11 celcius and a little breeze just to tease my cold
fingers! Took out my Graphite and flew 3 cold rounds. Got good
thermal activity in round 2 but since there is no "second start" in
X5J (you loose landing points) I had allready super altitude in the
first place. So boring to fly 3x10minutes. With 17-20seconds motor
runs one is very high. I had not used batteries for a long time so
first launch was not as high as second and third. This is common
with all drive batteries. They need some "running in" after long
time of no use. Poor landing on round 2. Strange how poor those
flaps are on the Graphite compared to a Superior or Giant when the
weight is almost the same (electro Graphite compared to sailplane
Pike).
So flights: 1) 10:00, 19sec, 1-2m 2) 10:03, 20sec, 5-6m 3) 10:02,
17sec, 0-1m at -11 celcius
After the third flight the wind died so I flew my Katana 2M
one flight.
DAY ..
13.February 2006
- Too cold to be flying much outside. Today the sun was up
and almost no wind so it was ok to fly a bit electric. My son's
throwing plane got a loop but not enough throw to roll. Katana Mini
out for a spin though. Geir Atle took some pictures with my camera.
The car we use on the ice had a failure but the tractor seems to be
working great.
|
DAY ..
10.February 2006 - On the way back home we stopped for shopping on el-flight. They had a cute little throwing plane in EPP that I thought would be perfect for my son (8yrs). But it took me just 10minutes to figure out we needed to get some electrics in this one. Just before I left Jan had printed out a description of another guy that had done the same. After some hand tosses and removal of nose weight I soon figured out that the description was not to be followed. Instead we installed lighter equipment and we flew it in the indoor hall just 2 hours after starting on it. With GWS motor, 3x2 prop, 2x300PQ, 2A controller, GWS Rx and 2xD44 I was amazed to find 62g + 17g battery = 79g. We could have saved a few more grams in pushrods but used what we had. It actually flew very well and the CG I found as a chucky glider was the same with motor. Apx 42mm seemed to be fine and it flew very well indoor. Not too fast and gentle and nice turns. I might need a bit more right and down thrust but pretty sharp turns were possible. For those that do indoor pylon racing I think this would be a very good and cheap model! And first of all it is EPP so you bang it in the wall! My son Fredrik took the pictures in the air. |
|
Hard ground but not hard enough for me.. Most
slided 3-4m because the ground was hard. I bounced first!
Nation television Denmark was there on the snowy Sunday.
Look HERE for TV movie
A bunch of more pictures
uploaded HERE - NEW
Report from Rune HERE
DAY ..
5.February 2006
- Winter F3J Denmark - Day 3
- Sunday is second day and a second competition. Two competitions in
two days is cool to do and makes it possible for a "second chance".
And guess what! My second chance was to win again !-) Today we
started in heavy snow but enough visual to fly. The snow ended in
round 2 I think and we had good flying weather at -3 celcius. The
wind came 90 degrees on the launch line at 0-3m/s and there were
very light thermals in the air. A tiny bit of slope over some trees
but mostly it was thermals passing thru. The launches were crucial
today and mostly I waited 5-6 seconds so I could go out to one side
and up against the wind. My launches were (according to the logger)
202-220m but in the last round when Jesper had 3x1000 like me I
snapped the 1,35mm line (I flew my Pike Giant all the time). It was probably damaged because there were
no or little wind around. But I figured it was a thermal and in the relaunch
I headed downwind. It was ok and luckily nobody flew full
time in that round. On the way home I even found the core of the
thermal. I flew the time out and got my 4th 1000p. Jesper
also won his last round so the winner had to be the one with the
longest flight. Luckily I was the only one that had full time in one
round (yes there were some short rounds today) so I got the trophy.
We have no finals in this competition and no throw outs. But all
wants to win I can tell you! The other Norwegians placed nice today
with Aril at 6th, Rune 7th and Geir missed in the last round and
dropped to 16th. A big thanks to the organizers. As always a VERY
friendly and nice event with good food all days.
I think there will be full results at
www.f3j.dk
DAY ..
4.February 2006
- Winter F3J Denmark - Day 2 prize giving
- Yippi!!!! Guess who won!!!! I think there will be full results at
www.f3j.dk
Pictures were taken by Jan Hansen...
I have uploaded "uncritical" a bunch of pictures HERE (we have
wlan at the youth hostel here in Aabenraa)
DAY ..
4.February 2006
- Winter F3J Denmark - Day 2
- Cold but lots of fun off course. We started with 5,4m/s (according
to Otto) and -3 celcius. But the wind died and we had a lot of small
thermals that some of us found. I should be happy with the day and
had launches of 255-260m though one was at 275m (150m to
turnaround). I used my Pike Giant all the day and was happy with it
(off course). 24 pilots was in action and I must say there are some
serious competition down here. The Danish guys knows how to fly in
the wind but the Germans are almost too much for us. We might send
them home for tomorrow.... ;-) We are now waiting for dinner and
price giving for day one. there are two separate events. One today
and one tomorrow. No throw out and no finals. But the rules of F3J
apply though we use winches. I think I am at the podium but lost 23
seconds in round two I think. We will see. 5 rounds were flown and
we had a break for soup and to heat up our bodies a bit. Good
clothes are a key here, yet with good clothes and a small trip to
the turnaround will make you too hot again. The friends I have in
this event are worth every hour in the car. They are all smiling and
all are keen to know about each other. The other Norwegian team
members are a bit "rusty" I think. They sometimes fly well but sadly
today was not the day. It might have something with drinking
yesterday (Aril and Rune) and Geir could not sleep because of heavy
snooring (Aril and Rune again...). He ended up in the living room. I
woke up a few times but finally fell to sleep after a trip out... More updates later (maybe).
Only four of the flights because there were some
bugs...
DAY ..
3.February 2006
- Winter F3J Denmark - Day 1
- After 700km and one ferry we (me, Aril from Tromsų, Geir and Rune
from Porsgrunn) arrived in Aabenraa southern Denmark. It was late
night and with 3 of 4 people snoring I got up early for a coffe and
some good breakfast at a youth hostel that was great. Foggy
conditions but a few celcius at the field but we flew a lot just
zooming of at 100m and braking of at 120m... Lots of small thermals
so most of the pilots could fly long flights. I think it is 25
competitors this year and from 5 different countries. Geir started
the day with repairs since he had not flown or maybe done anything
useful in months???? (have to kid him a bit).
DAY ..
1.February 2006
- New line on the winch and offcourse I had to do a poor work on the
plug in the ice... New line now a wreck. But I did have a very nice
flight with the Pike Giant and a final test before this weekends F3J
competition in Denmark. On the picture you see my launching
technique and in the middle is how I reach for the nose if there is
some sidewind. This might be difficult if you don't have a Tx in
balance or a tray though.
